The Workers' Party candidate in the 2011 General Election for the constituency of Meath-West is Séamus McDonagh.

Séamus, a native of Wilkinstown, is a lifelong member of the Workers' Party and currently a member of the Ard Comhairle / Central Executive Committee.

Séamus was for many years a community development worker with the Dublin Inner City Drugs Network, and was involved in organising the Anti-Bin Charges and Anti- Water Tax campaigns in County Meath in the '80s and '90s. Séamus is also a member of the current national Anti-Water Tax committee.

Séamus is also a member of the Jim Connell Society in Kells, which organises an annual socialist and trade union festival in Crossakiel to commemorate the author of the socialist standard “The Red Flag”.

The Workers' Party recognises that key local issues for the people of Meath in the general election will be:

• Creation of local jobs.• Re-negotiation of household mortgages at current property values.• Local healthcare / Navan Hospital.• Provision of adequate school places.• Sub-post office for Johnstown.

The Workers' Party believes that for the vast majority of ordinary people this election will not only be about issues of local concern, no matter how acute. The election will be about the economic issues which are hurting every household in the country:

• Unemployment.• Cutbacks.• Emigration.• Mortgage debt.• Banks.

The Workers' Party offers voters in Meath-West a socialist alternative to the failed right-wing agenda of the mainstream political parties Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

The Workers' Party last stood a general election candidate in Meath in 1987. However, the collapse of the global financial system, and the inability of rightwing and social democratic governments worldwide to implement policies which can resolve the structural contradictions of capitalism which led to this collapse, presents anew the opportunity for socialists to put forward a credible alternative vision of society and the economy, a vision which places the interests of ordinary people, the working class, in centre place.

The Workers' Party is placing economic issues at the heart of its general election campaign.

Workers' Party Ten Point Programme:

1. A complete change in the political system which has allowed corruption, cronyism and economic ruin to flourish.2. A commitment to exit the IMF / EU deal which has no democratic mandate.3. A commitment to bring back into the public exchequer the billions which bankers and developers immorally accumulated.4. A commitment to hold a referendum on the banks.5. A taxation system which ensures that billionaire tax exiles pay up and that those who can afford the most pay the most.6. A commitment to introduce a stimulus package which grows the economy, creates jobs and badly needed public infrastructure and generates tax revenues.7. The development of our vast oil and gas resources in the national interest and not private profit.8. The revamping of our state and semistate companies under democratic control and accountability, as the engine of economic growth and recovery.9. A commitment to reverse the cuts introduced in Budget 2010 to protect those on social welfare, the minimum wage, the working poor, the elderly and those on pensions.10. The introduction of a wealth tax, a levy on banks and use of the National Pension Reserve Fund to fund a National Economic Recovery Programme.